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Video: E-Cigarette Explodes In Man's Pocket At Grand Central Shop
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 24, 2016
Modified Nov 24, 2016
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 24, 2016
Modified Nov 24, 2016
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An employee at a Grand Central Terminal wine shop was injured when an e-cigarette exploded in his pants pocket yesterday. His colleague told ABC, "Out of nowhere, a huge explosion came from one of my co-worker's pockets. It just shot at us."
Video shows the injured worker, Otis Gooding, standing behind the counter of Central Cellars around 9:50 a.m. Wednesday when the e-cigarette started to smoke:
News 4 at 4pm: E-cigarette blows up in man's pocket in liquor store at Grand Central Terminal #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/7NLp00066t
— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) November 23, 2016
The footage shows him trying to put out the fire. Assistant manager John Lee said, "He went to pull the cigarette out of his pocket and burned his hand, his nail. There were some some projectiles during the explosion—I ducked out and we all evacuated...I guess these e-cigarettes are a dangerous thing."
Gooding was the only one injured. WABC 7 reports, "He was taken by private ambulance to a local hospital, where he's in stable condition. His attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, said he was admitted to the burn unit for treatment and will require surgery."
There was no disruption to train service at Grand Central.
Dr. Anne Wagner of the University of Colorado Hospital Burn Center described e-cigarette explosions earlier this year, "It's literally an explosion, a super-hot explosion... We're seeing deep third-degree burns and almost all of them require skin grafts and these grafts leave a significant scar."
NBC News reports that a 2014 FDA study found the "shape and construction of e-cigarettes can make them more likely than other products with lithium-ion batteries to behave like 'flaming rockets' when a battery fails."
Tagged
ecigarette explosion
grand central terminal
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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